January 04, 2009

School-Age D.J.’s, Old-School Style

Here is an example of Latino youth exerting a "personality" on pop culture. The Martinez Brothers demonstrate the meaningful and lasting influence of introducing successive generations to new things.

After discovering his sons’ interest in online mixing programs like
VirtualDJ but disapproving of the profanity of the hip-hop songs they
were playing, Mr. Martinez bought them their own equipment — and some
music.

“My dad comes from where D.J. culture began,” Stevie Jr.
said. “So he’s like, ‘Let me show these guys where D.J.ing comes from.’
We gravitated to disco because everything was live. The musical aspect
of it was something that hip-hop didn’t have.”

It wasn’t long
before the boys made their father a mixtape, and its quality made him
pull over his car while he was driving on Interstate 95. “I called
Stevie on my cell, and I say: ‘You guys did not do this cassette. Stop
playing around with me,’ ” Mr. Martinez recalled. “Stevie was really
good with the deep house, and Christian was good with the disco. My
head started to spin. One was 14, and one was 12.” - Via NYTimes